Monthly Archives: May 2012

National ranking features 2 Michigan companies among top 10 U.S. workplaces

Posted on by
Reply

We’ve seen some great workplaces already in our tour of Michigan.  From the top-notch environment at Haworth to the cool vibe at ePrize, Michigan is full of great companies.  Now, people around the national are starting to notice too.

Plante Moran and Quicken Loans are two of the top 10 places to work in the U.S. according to a study recently released by WorkplaceDynamics.  The rankings are based on employee satisfaction.  Michigan was one of only two states to have more than one company listed.  Texas was the other.

Excerpt from Detroit Free Press story:

The rankings are compiled from more than half a million employee surveys at 805 large companies. In comparison, Fortune Magazine’s annual list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” involves 246,000 employee surveys from 280 businesses with more than 1,000 employees. Plante Moran and Quicken Loans also did well on the 2012 Fortune list, ranking No. 37 and No. 10, respectively.

“We care about our people,” said Gordon Krater, managing partner of Plante Moran, which has 1,700 employees. “All we are is people.”

This kind of philosophy is more than just talk. Late last year, for example, Plante Moran gave its workers a bonus day off to be used anytime during December and the first half of January — as a way to show appreciation for their hard work. Plante Moran ranked No. 3 among large companies in the 2011 Detroit Free Press Top Workplaces competition.

To read the full article, click here.

The Atlantic Cities: How Detroit Is Rising

Posted on by
Reply

“The Rise of the Creative Class” author and renowned urbanist Richard Florida is taking a first-hand look during the next few weeks at a city that he believes is primed for growth, success and opportunity.  It’s a place that is simply known to us as Detroit.

Florida will present his findings in a five-part series that will give readers an inside-look at the new Detroit.

Excerpt for “Episode One” of the series:

…the other story of Detroit, the bigger one – is of its rebirth, its rising. Given the austerity of these times, this is less a story of top-down government efforts, and much more a story of the organic efforts of the entrepreneurs and artists, designers and musicians who have chosen to live in Detroit and be the stewards of its resurgence.

…

Detroit’s new generation of place makers and city-builders draws deeply on the city and the region’s many assets. Yes, urban renewal devastated parts of the city, and yes, it’s true that there are too many empty lots and abandoned buildings. But a walk through and around the urban core evidences a fabulous urban fabric with fantastic historic buildings of the very sort that Jane Jacobs was talking about when she said that old buildings give rise to new ideas.

For the full article and a link to Episode One of Florida’s series, click here.

Forget Silicon Valley: Can college students make Michigan a startup hub?

Posted on by
Reply

Can Michigan be a hub for entrepreneurship?  If so, it will go a long way toward retaining the talent that is currently studying on college campuses across the Great Lakes State.  In fact, 89% of the students that we talked with during our recent research study said they would seek a place that is “friendly to entrepreneurs” when determining where they would live after college.

Well, here’s Michigan Radio (NPR affiliate with stations in Ann Arbor, Flint and Grand Rapids) featuring a story about college students who aren’t waiting until graduation to take a good idea and see if a business can be created from it.

Excerpt:

That’s the idea behind TechArb, a University of Michigan program that aims to provide student entrepreneurs with the mentoring, workspace and, in a few cases, funding needed to start their own businesses.

Earlier this month, TechArb hosted its “Spring Showcase,” a chance for student startups to present their ideas and accomplishments during the past semester.

The TechArb office, along with a cavernous adjacent space underneath a campus parking structure, was filled with potential investors, mentors and other members of the local entrepreneurial community. Student teams were each given about three minutes and one Powerpoint slide to make their pitch.

Then came a buffet dinner and a lot of networking.

To read the full story, click here.

Lansing visit – recap

Posted on by
Reply

The Van Andel Millennial Board took its message to the State Capitol on Tuesday, delivering remarks to the state’s House Commerce Committee, meeting with young elected officials and attending a reception with dozens of state representatives.

“I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve sat in where we’ve talked about what we could do to retain talent,” Millennial Board founder Carol Van Andel told the House Commerce Committee on Tuesday morning.  “We all have ideas and many of them seem pretty good as we sit around a boardroom table.  But we were missing a key ingredient.  We were missing the voice of the soon-to-be graduates who we were seeking to keep.  In fact, we were simply guessing at what students thought, what they needed and what they wanted.  Well, I’m proud to say that we have stopped the guessing with the Van Andel Millennial Board.”

Casey Hoffman, chair of the Millennial Board, represented the board members and detailed much of the research that the group has conducted.

“Our research showed that talent retention isn’t a ‘this or that’ scenario,” Casey told the House Committee.  “Our peers seemingly want it all, and believe that jobs, affordability, safety, good schools, vibrant communities and multiple modes of transportation can be found together.”

Following the House Commerce Committee meeting, the board met with two young, dynamic state representatives who are in their 20s – Frank Foster (R – Petoskey) and Andrea LaFontaine (R – Columbus Twp.).  Foster and LaFontaine shared insights on what it is like to represent thousands of citizens at the State Capitol while gaining the trust and respect of peers, business leaders, lobbyists, etc.  The chiefs of staff for Foster and LaFontaine, also both in their 20s, attended the session as well and provided great insight into the behind-the-scenes efforts that make state government run.  One even had a lead on an internship for a Millennial Board member.

Following an update on the Millennial Board’s activities to the Michigan Colleges Foundation’s Board of Directors, the group attended a reception at the Michigan Restaurant Association and met with many of the elected officials who represent them and their colleges in Lansing.  It was a great day.

The trip was another part of the board’s efforts to see “the real Michigan” and provides great information to share with peers back on campus.  As we use the summer months to plan out many of our visits for the upcoming school year, we’re excited by the course ahead and what it means for Michigan’s talent retention efforts.

Ann Arbor ranks among top 10 places for new college graduates

Posted on by
Reply

Ann Arbor is a hip town that Michigan college students are interested in calling home.  In fact, when we asked 3,800+ college students where they would likely to live after college – Ann Arbor was one of the top responses (mentioned the fourth most often).

Now, Ann Arbor is gaining recognition nationally as a top place for new college grads.  In an analysis done by renown urbanist Richard Florida (published by The Atlantic Cities), Ann Arbor is ranked eighth in a list of top places for new college graduates.

Excerpt:

To capture places that are open to smart 20-somethings, where you can not only build friendships and look for mates but create the personal and professional networks that are so crucial to both career and happiness, we added the share of adults who are college graduates along with the percentage of the population that has never been married. The eight variables we based our rankings on are:

  • Unemployment rate, via the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
  • Share of jobs in professional, technical, and creative occupations (BLS)
  • Percent of adults with a BA and above, via the American Community Survey (ACS)
  • Average salaries and wages for professional, technical, and creative occupations (BLS)
  • Rental share of housing (ACS)
  • Money left over after paying for housing (ACS)
  • Share of adults that have never been married (ACS)
  • Share of commuters who use public transit (ACS)

Here’s a link to the full article.

Next stop: Lansing

Posted on by
Reply

Building on the momentum of our Grand Rapids trip, we’re excited to visit Lansing on Tuesday, May 15.

The trip is highlighted by a presentation that we’ll make to the Michigan House of Representatives Commerce Committee, talking about our research, and our work to see the “real Michigan” and educated our fellow students about the opportunities found here.  Talent retention is critical for our state’s continued growth and we look forward to sharing our thoughts and opinions with this group of 19 elected state officials.

In addition to members of the Van Andel Millennial Board, we’ll be joined on the House panel by Carol Van Andel, Adrian College President Dr. Jeffrey Docking and Crain’s Detroit Business Publisher Mary Kramer.

We’ll also tour downtown Lansing, take part in the Michigan Colleges Foundation board of directors meeting and attend a reception with state legislators.

We’re really looking forward to our visit and hope that it will provide additional information about the “real Michigan” and its opportunities that we can share with our peers back on campus.

Look for updates in the coming days on our visit.

 

Thanks to MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press

Posted on by
Reply

MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press did such a nice job chronicling our visit to West Michigan in late April that we asked if we could use some of their photos on this blog.  They’ve kindly agreed.

You’ll now notice a handful of their photos on the blog’s homepage photo banner.  If you’d like to see more MLive.com photos from our two-day visit to Grand Rapids, visit the following photo galleries on the news source’s website:

Grand Rapids tour: “I was completely wowed by Grand Rapids”

Posted on by
Reply

Note: Several members of the Van Andel Millennial Board will offer individual perspectives on the recent visit to Grand Rapids.  Some posts will recap the entire visit, while others will discuss individual tour stops.

By: Megan Vandekerkhove, Adrian College

As a Van Andel Millennial Board member, a recent tour took me to an area of Michigan that I have never visited before – Grand Rapids. I live on the east side of Michigan so when someone says “big city,” I think of Detroit or Ann Arbor, not Grand Rapids. However, after this tour I am happy to say that my views have changed. In just two days, I was completely wowed by the city of Grand Rapids.

We visited all types of businesses, local establishments and organizations, which offered a unique and broad perspective of the city. On this tour, my favorite locations to visit were The Rapid and Kids’ Food Basket because they both demonstrated the drive that the city has to do good and help its citizens.

The Rapid, the region’s bus system, was personally exciting to me because we were able to see all of the efforts to provide efficient and effective transportation to all citizens, a big step forward to improving the mobility of Grand Rapids. I was also very impressed with the massive sustainability efforts taken on by The Rapid. From the green roof on its operations center to alternative energy buses, it was nice to see such a commitment to improving the environment by such an integral organization that is already doing a lot of good.

Kids’ Food Basket is a local organization that really touched my heart. To see the amazing work that is being done by this organization was overwhelming. When I found out that 1 in 4 children in Grand Rapids are food insecure, I was shocked that there is that much of a deficit in this beautiful city. But then to see that Kids’ Food Basket has been tackling this problem head-on every day really goes to show the passion Grand Rapids has to help.

Overall, I truly enjoyed my taste of Grand Rapids and I most definitely intend to share all the information with my peers, so that they too can understand the worth that this city has. Thank you, Grand Rapids!

Detroit Ranks #6: The Cities With the Happiest Young Professionals

Posted on by
Reply

According to a Forbes.com article featuring a report by CareerBliss, young professionals in Detroit are some of the happiest in the country.

“The CareerBliss data showed that young professionals in Detroit enjoyed their work-life balance and the opportunity to work at companies they would recommend to others,”  CareerBliss Chief Executive Heidi Golledge told Forbes.com.

Click here to read the story.  Here’s an excerpt:

Young professionals, defined by CareerBliss as employees with less than 10 years’ experience in a full-time position, were asked to rate eight factors that affect workplace happiness, including growth opportunities, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, career advancement, senior management, job security and whether they would recommend their employer others.

They valued each factor on a five-point scale, and also indicated how important it was to their overall happiness at work. The numbers were combined to find an average rating of overall employee happiness for each respondent, and then sorted by location to find which cities had the happiest workers.

“In our research, CareerBliss found that young professionals take career happiness very seriously,” says the company’s chief executive, Heidi Golledge. “Typically, they will continue to keep their résumé active on job boards just in case something more fulfilling comes along, and they are typically two to three times more likely than their parents to jump jobs for more career happiness. In short, they take the right to pursuit happiness to heart and will typically not stay at a job with poor conditions for very long, and they will even relocate to get out of an unhappy work environment.”

Grand Rapids tour: Visit opens eyes to opportunities

Posted on by
Reply

Note: Several members of the Van Andel Millennial Board will offer individual perspectives on the visit to Grand Rapids.  Some posts will recap the entire visit, while others will discuss individual tour stops.

By: Anthony Manno, Hillsdale College

Although I have lived in Michigan all of my life, never have I experienced the west side of the state like I did earlier this month during our two-day tour of Grand Rapids.

Going to school in the small town of Hillsdale, I especially appreciated the support everyone in Grand Rapids displays for local businesses. Local support, such as “Local First,” is the exact encouragement a new entrepreneur needs to begin a new business. It appeared that innovative ideas in Grand Rapids are able to flourish because that is precisely what the community craves.

I also enjoyed seeing the opportunities in the surrounding area of Grand Rapids. I am, of course, speaking of Haworth. Upon first hearing we would be touring an office furniture company, I was a bit skeptical. This skepticism didn’t last long after entering the amazing Haworth facility. The open working environment combined with efficient manufacturing and great leaders allow this company to be one of the best in the business. Haworth, expect an employment application from Anthony Manno…

Visiting two nonprofit organizations also was important to view. Between WMCAT and Kids’ Food Basket, it was evident that Grand Rapids is about more than just making money. Although there are plenty of opportunities to make an honest salary, there are also many different ways to give back within the community. Whether you want to work full-time for a nonprofit or offer a few hours of your time a week, you can help to make a very real difference in people’s lives.

The transportation, dining, and local support of businesses were very impressive and truly showed that Grand Rapids is here to stay. The future is bright for residents in Michigan, which is why graduates need to consider staying here. If you desire the feel of a big city coupled with multitudes of creative and supportive people, look no further than Grand Rapids, Michigan.